Scots blank Jay County (04/27/06)

Scores just don’t always indicate effort.

Jay County girls tennis coach Roy Adams was disappointed after a 3-2 loss to South Adams Monday in a match he thought his team let get away. The Patriots fell 5-0 to Anderson Highland Wednesday, but left Adams in a much better mood and feeling the visiting Scots brought out the best in his team.

“We’re trying to challenge these girls to play at a level they’re not used to playing at,” said Adams. “That’s what we have to do this year.”

The closest of the matches for Jay County (2-8), which sat out No. 1 singles player Angie Stults with a back injury, came at No. 2 doubles.

Tiffani Bickel and Cindy Muhlenkamp fell behind Alaina Caplin and Emily Jones 2-1 in both sets, but would not go away. They took back to back games to reclaim the first-set lead at 3-2, and were ahead again at 4-3.

However, they dropped the next two games, and missed a chance to break Highland’s serve in the 10th game of the set. The Scots won two points later when a Muhlenkamp volley try was off the mark.

Bickel and Muhlenkamp stayed right with Caplin and Jones in the second set, but couldn’t manage to capture the lead as they fell 6-4, 6-4.

“Even though they lost, they’re getting more steady,” said Adams of his No. 2 doubles pair. “They’re learning to play together. They just need more experience.”

Patriots Carissa Wilkins and Megan Adams struggled early against the Scots, but showed marked improvement in their play and on the scoreboard as the matches progressed.

Wilkins dropped her first set against Abby Beard by a 6-3 score, but pushed back to grab a 3-2 lead in the second. Beard reclaimed the advantage, but had to fight for the victory.

Trailing 5-4, Wilkins fought off one match point before missing long on a second in a 6-3, 6-4 defeat.

Adams couldn’t keep up with Ashlan Allison in the first set as she suffered a 6-0 shutout. She battled back and forth with Allison during the second set and made a great play running to her left to hit a winner to the opposite baseline before dropping the 10th game in a 6-0, 6-4 loss.

“They just had to catch up,” said Adams. “(The Scots) were attacking the weaknesses we had and our girls had to figure out how to sure up those weaknesses. Really I think they just got into a habit of hitting some good, strong, smart shots.”

Jay County’s Jessica Muhlenkamp and Megan Knittle had an early 2-1 lead over Jessica Rockhill and Kelsey McFadden in their No. 1 doubles match, but struggled the rest of the way. They lost by a 6-2, 6-1 final.

Heather Ayers, who normally plays in the No. 1 spot for the junior varsity team, stepped in for Stults and fell 6-0, 6-0 to Alex Hammel.

Junior varsity

The Patriots played several close matches, but were only able to win one in a 7-1 loss to Anderson Highland.

Megan Huntsman and Briann Saxman earned the lone Jay County victory, defeating Amanda Rowlen and Lexi Mechem 8-4 at No. 2 doubles.

In other doubles matches Betsy Knittle and Brittany Lewis fell 8-6 to Labriya Anderson and Ashleigh Bingham, Saxman and Hannah McAbee lost 9-8 (7-4) to Emily Marstall and Amanda Ashcraft, and Huntsman and Caitlin Dunn took an 8-4 defeat from Julia Bradley and Heather Pardue.

The closest of the singles matches came at the No. 1 spot where Dunn dropped an 8-6 decision to Kim Roberson.

In other singles matches McAbee lost 8-2 to Marstall, and Megan McGraw fell 8-0 to Sarah Buck and 8-1 to Amanda Rowlen.[[In-content Ad]]